THIS refers to the article “Indian Muslims: Dilemmas and Panacea -Part 2” published in this newspaper on 9 February 2021 in which the author has proposed to counter the fake news and the misrepresentations about Muslim community on social media platforms by making social media teams in different states that would be headed by a central team. It is absurd that the author proposes such a solution and calls them “panacea”, given that it is the duty of the government as well as the social media platforms to counter fake news and prevent individuals and communities from being exposed to misrepresentations. Social media companies have successfully banned anti-Semitic and Holocaust-denial content from their platforms. Why should not the same yardstick be applied to Islamophobic posts and hate speech against Indian Muslims? Why should not these policy measures be extended to hate Islamophobic posts?
If the state does not fulfil its duty towards its citizens by protecting them against hate speech and vilification, it cannot expect them to prove their patriotism by “trying to be seen as part of the county’s mainstream” because if they are burdened with these all these duties that the government should be doing, they will certainly lag in contributing towards the development of the nation.
Samid Pandit
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